“You can either pack your bags and run away, or you can fight your father.”

These were the words that Gordon de Bruin was told as a child. It was advice from his older brother, whom he idolised.

De Bruin (37), a reformed gangster and recovering addict, said the words shaped his life choices because he indeed ended up in many physical battles with his abusive father.

“It’s not easy to leave that environment, or that lifestyle,” he said. “But through my confession, I could leave.”

Gangster heritage

De Bruin, who now works in community development in Mitchells Plain after obtaining a degree in the field, said that he was attracted to gangsterism because he saw the gangsters in his area as father figures.

His family moved around in several areas of the Cape Flats, including Mitchells Plain, Hanover Park, and Bonteheuwel. His father, who was also a gangster, beat him physically, while several of his six siblings were gangsters and his eldest sister sold drugs.

He was convicted of murder in 2004 and sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in prison. While inside, he completed his matric and studied business, though he said he never took it seriously, seeing the classes as a reprieve from the cell rather than a way out permanently but a fellow inmate tried to encourage him.

“But I didn’t listen, you know, until 2015.”

Turning point

“I always say if that year 2015 can speak, then that year will tell my testimony way better than I can,” he said.

That year, his mother, whom De Bruin says was always loving, got into a fight with her sister, with whom they were living. His mother arranged for him to stay with a pastor they knew until the tension cooled. The pastor took him to Camp Joy in Strandfontein.

At Camp Joy, De Bruin said he was encouraged to make a confession.

“I said, God, I will just walk away from all this,” he said. “Because my sister was still a drug dealer back then. My baby brother was still a drug dealer. Most of my family were still drug dealers and gangsters. But I told my friends, families and all that, that I’m done with this life. That’s how I put myself into rehab.”

Finding RLabs

In 2015, De Bruin came across RLabs, a youth development programme in Westridge, Mitchells Plain.

“I used to be in and out of Mitchells Plain, but for the wrong reasons,” he said. “But never did I know that Mitchells Plain would play a big role in my life.”

At RLabs he completed courses in project management, social innovation, enterprise, occupational health and safety, and computer basics.

It was the first time he had used a laptop and De Bruin said he found it daunting until one of the teachers encouraged him.

“He said that there is nothing in this life that I cannot face that is in front of me, because I have already overcome so many things. Every time when I’m in front of a laptop or computer, I always think about how he spoke that hope in me.”

During this period he also acted in a theatre production called Don’t Miss Your Turning Point, written by a fellow resident at the rehab.

“Never did I know that I’m an actor as well,” he said.

Bible college and how the Bible changed his life

From RLabs, De Bruin studied full-time film and television production at Media Village in 2016. That same year he enrolled in Youth With A Mission, a missionary school with a presence in 180 countries. Through the mission, he earned a degree in Community Development in 2023. The organisation also gave him his first experience on a plane when he flew to Uganda in 2016.

“I never thought or imagined that one day I would fly in a plane,” he said.

His relationship with the Bible also changed. He describes his use of the Bible in prison as “abusive” explaining that inmates tore out the pages to use as toilet paper, cigarette rolling papers and baggies for drugs.

“Today God has chosen me to work with the Gideons,” he said, referring to the Bible ministry that distributes scriptures in schools.

Back in the community

De Bruin now does community development work across in schools, in juvenile detention centres, and on the streets.

At the Kraaifontein youth detention centre, he plays soccer against young inmates and speaks to them about life after prison. He works with recently released gang members, teaches children to read and write, and speaks to parents about the importance of staying involved in their children’s lives.

“If you’re the parent, you’ve got to do much more than what we do,” he said. “Because if these kids are going to fail, they’re not going to fail just us, they’re going to fail you too.”

De Bruin also released a rap mixtape called Chasing Destiny, available on YouTube, and is currently writing several books. His story features in Gang Entry and Exit in Cape Town: Getting Beyond the Streets in Africa’s Deadliest City.

A family still in the shadows

Of his six siblings, most lived and died in the shadow of drugs and gangsterism.

His eldest brother ran drugs between the Northern Cape and the Western Cape together with their sister. De Bruin described the two as operating like a “family mafia.”

His eldest brother was killed in a motorcycle accident while his eldest sister burned to death with her adopted daughter.

His youngest brother, he says, is still on the streets, after having served time for murder and surviving a gang hit.

De Bruin says he has tried to help his brother but he walked out of rehab.

“I just hope and pray and believe he finds recovery,” De Bruin said.

A ray of hope in his family is his aunt, who used to deal drugs but “left that life behind” but the biggest turnaround was in Dr Bruin’s relationship with his father, who also found recovery.

“My father died a prayer warrior,” De Bruin said. “He did change his life.”

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